Case Number 08812

GANTZ SEASON 1 BOX SET

The Charge

"The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated." -- Mark
Twain

Opening Statement

Based on a popular weekly serialized comic book, Gantz premiered in
2005 and took Japanese TV by storm. But before that could happen, each episode
had to first be censored and extensively re-edited. It was still a hit. The
first season has just been collected for the first time and released in all its
uncensored glory. Now it's time to see what all the fuss was about.

Facts of the Case

Two students save the life of a drunken homeless man after he stumbles and
falls off a subway platform onto the tracks below. Before they can reach the
safety of the platform themselves, the express train comes roaring through the
tunnel and they are both run down and decapitated. Or so it would appear.
Seconds later they find themselves very much intact and standing in a room with
a mysterious black sphere called Gantz, along with a wide variety of people --
each of whom had similarly just been in situations that should have left them
for dead. Gantz soon sends them out on their first of apparently limitless
missions. If they die on a mission, they die. If they don't complete a mission,
they die. But if they survive enough missions and earn enough points, they get
to go back home -- probably.

The Evidence

On first impression, Gantz is a sexy and violent variation on the
Alice in Wonderland mythos (much like The Matrix Trilogy is). Only
instead of a rabbit hole, there's a near death experience. Instead of Wonderland
there's a secret room, futuristic weapons, and an incredibly dangerous hidden
world of enemy aliens. Instead of the Mad Hatter there's a mysterious black
sphere that scolds, makes fun of, and then scores each individual player after
each mission. Instead of the Queen of Hearts threatening "Off with their
heads!" bodies actually do get mutilated, gutted, ripped to shreds in a
variety of creative ways. And perhaps most significantly, instead of one Alice
-- there are dozens, maybe even hundreds. In fact, you could be next.

But you're not. Instead this box set, which includes 13 episodes from the
first season of Gantz, focuses on the lives of three individuals. Kei
Kurono is a self-absorbed, horny high school student with a penchant for
soft-core porn who wouldn't go out of his way to help anyone. Masaru Kato is an
imposing figure and used to play with and idolize Kurono when they were younger
-- until his grades fell and he was sent to another school. In many ways Kato is
the moral compass of Gantz, always trying to do the right thing; always
trying to get others to do the right thing too. Yet beneath the surface, there
is a definite violent streak within, one that he tries his utmost to control.
Kei Kishimoto is an attempted suicide was was plucked from her bath just as her
life force began to wane. Needless to say she materializes into the hidden room
disoriented, confused, and buck-naked -- much to the boner-inducing surprise of
Kurono.

That's not to say there aren't any other characters. There are plenty.
Including a dog. Yes, a dog. That's the beauty of this kind of story line --
characters can live, die, and be replaced at any time. In this way the story
never gets old and the viewer can be introduced to all sorts of different people
from all different walks of life at any point in the series.

Naming and rating each episode doesn't really apply here in that they are
all of equal importance to the overall storyline. However the Gantz -- Season
1 Box Setis broken up into three distinct story arcs over the course
of its thirteen episodes. The first three discs focus on the introduction of
Kurono, Kato, and Kei as well as the whole Gantz concept. The next 5 discs take
our characters back into their daily lives and we get to delve into what makes
them tick. This is where we also get to meet some of the new characters that are
destined to become the next pawns of Gantz. The last arc brings all the players,
both new and old, back into the game.

What's really nice about Gantz is that the viewer really does get to
know these characters. We get to see a bit of their backgrounds, their social
surroundings, and their place in the world. A distinct emphasis has been placed
on internal dialogue so that we really get into their heads and find out what's
going on inside -- which is usually a marked difference from what does or
doesn't come out of their mouths.

The one thing we don't learn too much about in the first season is what
Gantz really is. We don't find out how long Gantz has been plucking people from
their lives (or near-deaths) and reinventing them in his room. We don't learn
where these aliens that Gantz wants hunted down come from or what they're doing
here on Earth. We don't even find out what the suits our protagonists wear
really do or what happens after one of them reaches 100 points. Not really. But
that's okay because it's all part of what makes Gantz so addictive. And
boy, is itaddictive. Simply put, Gantz is anime crack. You'll love some
characters and loathe others, but either way you won't be able to slide in those
DVDs fast enough to find out what happens next.

What needs to be made clear is that Gantz is definitely not for kids.
Adult situations include suicide and attempted rape. The language is harsh; the
violence is bloody and graphic, and yes, we do get to see Kei naked. Putting it
in perspective, that's not much different from the average episode of The
Sopranos.

Extras are included on all 6 discs. All discs include clean opening and
closing animation and DVD credits. On the first disc there's an interview with
Director Ichiro Itano. On the second, an interview with Daisuke Namikawa, the
Japanese voice talent for Kurono; and on the third and fourth disc there's a
two-part cast talk with the Japanese voices of Kurono, Kato and Kei. Starting on
the fifth disc they've also included a sneak peek of the following episode --
though the only one really worth watching is the one on the last DVD -- as it
previews episode 14, the beginning of the next story arc -- which will hopefully
also be collected in a box set sometime in the near future. Looks to be a
sizzler too. As far as the interviews go none of them are particularly
enlightening and you don't really need to watch them to get the full
Gantz experience. In a nutshell, the first two interviews basically make
a point of saying that the more times you watch the episodes the more meaning
you're going to find in them. The second group interview looks to be conducted
in a convention atmosphere. The cast looks uncomfortable and they jump from
subject to subject; no earth shattering insights are revealed. However, the do
provide some comparisons between the uncensored DVD and what was shown on
Japanese TV -- but not much.

The English voice acting cast does an excellent job overall -- though the
high-pitched whining of Chris Ayres as Kurono does get grating at times. The
sound design in general is fantastic, using the 5.1 surround medium to maximum
potential -- whether it's an explosion, rain hitting the streets, or the hinted
echo of an internal monologue. Of special note is the opening theme song,
Super Shooter by Japanese Rock group Rip Slyme -- a pulsing techno anthem
if there ever was one -- that may just get you surfing for a download.

The anime itself is lovely to look at -- seemingly a combination of hand
drawn and digital. Since this is a DVD compilation of episodic television there
are redundancies in storytelling, usually through flashbacks, in order bring new
viewers up to date, but they never bog down the story and more often than not
are used in an almost haunting way -- as if hinting at events to come or
freedoms lost.

Closing Statement

If you're a novice to anime, the Gantz -Season 1 Box Set may just be
the perfect way to ease yourself into this most influential genre.

The Verdict

Everyone involved is free to go -- until, of course, Gantz calls you all back
into service once again.